Praise is a powerful thing. We can praise God with our voices, our bodies, and with the way we live our lives. To praise is to honor, to give thanks, to glorify and to exalt someone or something. When we praise God, it helps us take our eyes off what we are going through so that we can fix them on the One who gives true peace.
Praise creates room in our hearts and in our lives for God to come and move. When we praise, we acknowledge that He is almighty, all-powerful, and sovereign over all. With this new perspective, the things that used to worry us or cause us stress start to fade out of view. They may not change in an instant, but we are better positioned to believe God for a breakthrough.
The Bible is full of stories of people who praised God. In the Psalms, we see King David praise God time and time again, simply because of who God is. Every attribute of God is worthy of our praise: His faithfulness, His kindness, His goodness, His unconditional love… the list is endless! The Bible even says that if we don’t praise Him, the rocks will cry out because everything within creation longs to praise its maker, for in Him we find our purpose and hope.
One of the most powerful examples of what praise can do is found in the story of Jericho. In Joshua 6, we see God instruct the Israelites to march around the city of Jericho for six days with armed men and priests carrying trumpets. On the seventh day, they blew their trumpets and the whole army let forth a great shout – a shout so loud that the walls of an entire city fell down, signifying a historic victory for the Israelites.
This is such an incredible story because it is picture of what praise can do in our own lives. When we use our voices, our bodies and our lives to praise God – to let forth a loud shout – we can see walls that have boxed us in for so long, come tumbling down. We can even see walls that have held our own cities and nations captive, come tumbling down. They might be walls of sickness, of depression, or of lack. Whatever it is, when we push through how we are feeling and start to give God praise, we arrest the attention of heaven, our faith is activated, and we can see what was previously impossible, become possible.
Why don’t you take a moment today to praise God in your own way. Even if you don’t feel like it, start to focus on the greatness of God, and give Him thanks for who He is, and for the good things in your life.
*This week’s Artist Blog was written by Steph Ling, a member of the worship team for Planetshakers Church in Melbourne, Australia.
For more info about the band, go to planetshakers.com.